Rx meds driving law alarms mental health advocates

Thursday, January 24, 2013

By JERRY WOLFFEgerald.wolffe@oakpress.com; Twitter: @jerrywolffe

A law that gives police the authority to test drivers for prescription drugs does not threaten a patient’s right to drive if they are taking medicine as prescribed, the main sponsor of the legislation said.

State Sen. David Robertson, a Republican who represents parts of Oakland and Genesee counties, sponsored Senate Bill 353, which passed unanimously in the upper chamber and nearly unanimously in the House. It was signed into law Jan. 2 by Gov. Rick Snyder and takes effect March 31.

Mental health advocates and some agencies that serve those with disabilities are concerned that people taking prescriptions could lose their licenses under the law if pulled over for a traffic stop and found to have one of the medicines in their system.

The law lists 40 medications as ones that could cause impairment.

The drugs in the law include many antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, anticonvulsants, muscle relaxants and even over-the-counter ones such as Benadryl, an antihistamine, according to a listing in a summary of Senate Bill 353. One nonprescription item on the list is Endust, an aerosol cleaning product commonly inhaled for a high.

Under the law, if a motorist is impaired and found to have taken one of the listed drugs, he or she could be charged with the felony of “operating a vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicating substance,” and possibly lose his or her license.

“I fear people who need these medications to maintain a healthy life might see this law as a good reason to quit taking their prescriptions and have a relapse,” said Troy resident Bob Dillaber, 73, who leads a support group for people with emotional disorders at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

The group, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, meets twice a month at the hospital.

“Members of our group were really disturbed when they heard about this new law,” said Dillaber, who also was a member for nine years of the Board of Directors of the Oakland County Community Mental Health Organization.

“When police find out someone involved in a car accident might have taken one of these medicines for treatment, they could argue that it impaired their ability to safely operate a vehicle,” Dillaber said. “Now the question becomes, ‘How do I prove that it didn’t affect my driving ability?’ ”

Jeffrey L. Brown, the executive director of the Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority, said many of the drugs listed in the law do not have standard intoxication levels established by law.

He said his state agency is talking to Robertson “so we can have a law that does what it is intended instead of targeting innocent people.”

“We have talked to state police, prosecutors and everyone involved to put safeguards into this law before it goes into effect March 31,” he said.

Brown wants to protect people who properly use medication “for the way it is designed; we want people behind the wheel to be safe.”

If a patient notices a medication impairs his or her driving ability, “you better pay attention and not drive,” Brown said.

Brown said “hundreds of thousands if not a couple of million Michigan residents” take the medications on the watch list. That’s why it is so important to properly enforce the law, he said.

Robertson said the law is “not something to be apprehensive about.”

Robertson, who served four terms in the Michigan House before being elected to the state Senate, said he was approached in spring 2011 by Officer Wesley Evans of Grand Blanc Township.

Evans is one of about 15 police officers in the state who “is trained to recognize a motorist who is impaired by drugs,” Robertson said.

He said legislation was needed to fill the gap wherein an officer stops a motorist and his or her Breathalyzer test shows they are under the .08 percent legal limit for alcohol consumption yet the motorist is obviously impaired.

The case that led to the law involved a driver involved in a head-on crash who had been huffing a substance from an aerosol can to get high.

The legislation was introduced, Robertson said, to try to reduce the frequency of “drugged driving” by listing by medications that might impair a driver’s ability.

Robertson said he was not aware of concerns by agencies and people with disabilities regarding the new law until recent weeks. He said the legislation had been in the public domain for a year and a half and no one expressed any fears.

“We are considering amendatory language,” he said. “I need to run the suggested language past my legal counsel and get the opinion of Michigan State Police and prosecutors.”

He expected some action on the existing legislation to occur in the future.

However, he wanted to reassure those in the mental health community that “no one should be concerned about losing their driver’s license if they are taking medication in a proper manner as prescribed by a physician.”

“(This is) not something to be apprehensive about,” Robertson said of those who take these prescription drugs properly. “Your right to drive is not at threat.”

Contact Jerry Wolffe at 248-745-4612 or jerry.wolffe@oakpress.com or follow him on Twitter @JerryWolffe1 or on Facebook.